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  • Ian Buckland

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    23rd May, 2013, 1:09 pm | Ian Buckland

    On 22 May, the Global Reporting Index (GRI) unveiled its revised standards for corporate sustainability reporting. In the earlier consultation period GRI pledged that “the G4 draft will be improved in terms of focus, simplicity and clarity, and that it provide better support to small businesses and beginner reporters”. The test of this will come from putting the standard into practice, but in the meantime here’s a quick overview of the salient similarities and differences.  Corporate Citizenship will be building on this over the next few weeks and advising clients and friends on how changes may affect them.   When

  • Charlie Ashford

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    13th May, 2013, 11:01 am | Charlie Ashford

    Last month, a group of scientists sent an open letter to ten supermarkets, accusing them of “seriously misinforming customers on health risks”. The Voice of Young Science (VoYS) campaign says that by using “negative claims” – advertising products as free from ingredients such as MSG, aspartame, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or parabens – supermarkets are playing up unfounded health fears. Such labelling, they say, is as meaningless as marketing a “low sodium drain cleaner”, or “asbestos-free deodorant”. In a recent speech, author Mark Lynas called the controversy over genetic modification “one of the greatest science communications failures of the past

  • Elizabeth Tyler

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    26th April, 2013, 10:27 am | Elizabeth Tyler

    Today we hear that at least 273 people in Bangladesh have been killed by a collapsing garment factory. The news of the collapse came out on Wednesday, but it has taken until now for the scale of the disaster to be fully realised. The collapse wasn’t a freak accident, or a surprise. On Tuesday, cracks were noticed in the structure of the Rana Plaza factory, in which factories such as ‘New Wave’ were housed. Following evacuation of the building on Tuesday, most other businesses in the Rana Plaza told their employees to stay away on Wednesday. Not so the New

  • Charlie Ashford

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    25th April, 2013, 8:28 am | Charlie Ashford

    “It’s a question of whether we should privatise the normal water supply for the population,” says Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman of Nestlé. “One opinion, which I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs… As a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution.” The interview, which made the rounds on the Internet this week, is certainly an interesting watch. Taken from a 2005 documentary, Nestlé’s then-CEO goes on to outline why he believes that water is “a foodstuff like any other… And like any other foodstuff it should have a market value.” There has been

  • Ian Buckland

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    16th April, 2013, 4:21 pm | Ian Buckland

    As was widely anticipated the European Commission announced today, via Michel Barnier (MEP), concrete measures to amend the existing Accounting Directives and introduce a fresh Directive mandating the disclosure of non-financial and diversity information by listed and unlisted companies. Who’s affected? Current EU research puts the percentage of large companies regularly reporting on non-financial aspects within Europe at 10% (2,500). The proposed legislation will affect all companies with over 500 employees in the EU. That is around 18,000 companies or an increase of around 600%. It will therefore have a wide impact on trans-national corporations operating across Europe. When will

  • Renu Vasanth Kumar

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    19th March, 2013, 4:43 pm | Renu Vasanth Kumar

    About a week ago engineering graduates protested across the country in front of the office of HCL Technologies. They had been given a letter of intent in 2011 to join the company in a few months. Over a year later, all they have is the letter of intent with no joining date. While it is common practice amongst ITeS firms to provide letters of intent with no fixed joining date, increasingly the date of joining is being stretched into several months, given the global economic scenario. This is the second protest in front of HCL Technology offices. Until recently the

  • Corporate Citizenship

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    6th March, 2013, 9:53 am | Corporate Citizenship

    Director Andrew Wilson has helped support and contribute to a chapter on Global Corporate Volunteering- A strategic tool for business and development (Click here to view the publication). This book includes real cases of companies that have successfully addressed the different challenges that arise during the design, implementation and development of Global Corporate Volunteering (CV) initiatives. Through essays and interviews, reputed international experts on the field present ideas and experiences on how Global CV can become a tool that contributes to Human Resources management, Social Action and Corporate Social Responsibility policies, as well as business strategy; a tool that allows

  • Corporate Citizenship

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    21st February, 2013, 11:18 am | Corporate Citizenship

    It is the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) season again. Not listed last year? Worried about maintaining your position this year? Know you need to do more, but don’t know what or how? Our webinar will answer your questions. DJSI is the most recognized sustainable investment ranking.  More companies are vying for a spot on the list. Only the top companies within each industry group are included.  Producing a strong application is important. It requires more than just ticking boxes and including general answers. Moreover, an effective approach to the DJSI application process can provide real value to the company.

  • Charlie Ashford

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    12th February, 2013, 12:53 pm | Charlie Ashford

    Bhutan is going organic. The tiny Himalayan kingdom aims to ban all pesticides and herbicides. It expects that organic farming will not only help the environment, but will also help farmers to grow more. The move, announced at a sustainable development conference, looks like a complete rejection of global agribusiness. It’s difficult to find an agricultural multinational that doesn’t describe itself as “sustainable”, yet these companies are often accused of harming the poor and damaging the environment. Bhutan is often painted as a sustainable utopia. In 2008, the country didn’t just gain democracy; it also introduced an index of Gross National

  • Ian Buckland

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    1st February, 2013, 12:59 pm | Ian Buckland

    One of the most notable aspects of the proposed GRI G4 standards due out in May is the disappearance of the A,B,C (+) application levels introduced with the G3 in 2006. Will anyone be mourning their disappearance? At Corporate Citizenship we’ve always seen the GRI as an important reporting framework but one that is not well suited to all businesses. This a view shared by our practitioner research results from 2012. Practitioners were critical of GRI’s indicator creep and the apparent lack of rigour in meeting (particularly higher) Application Levels found in some reports. Recent research, conducted by Transparency International


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